The Session Four Blog
Welcome back to Session Four here inside the Scottrade Center. This is a big round as the semifinals will be wrestled in the center mats (live on ESPN2) and on the outer mats, competitors will be battling for All-American honors.

Tech has two guys left - Chris Diaz at 141 pounds and David Marone at heavyweight. Both guys have had to battle back through the consolation brackets and stand one win away from All-America status. They'll have tough competition to get to that level as Diaz draws the sixth-seeded Nick Gallick of Iowa State while Marone has ninth-seeded John Wise of Illinois.

A quick check on the standings for Tech and its ACC counterparts heading in to this session. Maryland is tied for 14th place with 23 points, while NC State stands in 24th with 18 points. NC State has 18 points and is in 24th place while Tech and Virginia are tied for 30th with 12.5 points. Duke is in 35th place with 10 points and North Carolina is in 42nd place with 7.5 points.

Maryland has three competitors still wrestling, with one (Alex Krom) in the championship bracket, and two in the consolations. NC State has Darrion Caldwell left in championship bracket and Duke has Konrad Dudziak left in the championship bracket. Both Tech and UVa have two apiece left in the consolations. In all, three ACC wrestlers have clinched All-America honors six others still have a chance.

Diaz got things started, but couldn't get much going as his bid fell one win short. Gallick got a first-period takedown and another in the second en route to the 6-1 win. Diaz finishes his season at 33-12

"Gallick's one tough dude," Dresser commented as he left the mat. "There's a reason he's an All-American."

Still, for a sophomore, Tech fans can expect many more good things from Diaz in the future as he's one of numerous underclassmen in the program right now.

Marone finally took the mat a little before 8 o'clock. After dancing around for the first period, Wise got a takedown on the edge of the mat right before the end of the period. Wise rode Marone for the whole second period and picked up an escape to start the third. Marone cut into the lead with a takedown, but Wise escaped quickly. That would be all Marone could muster as he fell 5-2 to end his season.

Marone's another sophomore on a team that had a heck of a year. All eight qualifiers are slated to return and while this tournament, and the ACC Tournament may not have ended up like everyone was wanting, this program is headed in the right direction and I promise you these Hokies will make more noise in Omaha next year at this time.

That'll be it from St. Louis. Thanks to everyone for keeping up with the Hokies through this avenue. This has been a fun experience and let's do it again next year!

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Session Three This and That
Welcome back to St. Louis for the second day of action here at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. It was an exciting day of action yesterday, but today is when the real action begins. Tech has four guys still alive, but all have tough draws coming up.

The quarterfinals will be going on in the center four mats (and you can watch it live on ESPNU) while the consolations will be taking place on the outer four mats. You won't see any Hokies on ESPNU as it is just showing the championship bracket, but it's still exciting that the network has taken such an interest to the sport. ESPN2 will carry the semifinals tonight and ESPN will show the finals live tomorrow night.

Jarrod Garnett moves on to another match this session with a dominating 18-5 major decision over Navy's Prescott Garner. Garnett picked up a takedown and three separate two-point nearfalls in the first period. In the second, Garner locked in a cradle, but Garnett broke it and went on to get an escape and takedown. In the third period, the freshman picked up a reversal and two more takedowns to pick up his 38th win of the season. He'll now take on Obe Blanc of Oklahoma State, who upset No. 6 seed James Nicholson Friday morning. That match will take place later this session.

We've had some exciting matches so far, and controversy as well. Iowa lost a match in the quarterfinals, which is sure to make the Iowa State faithful - including Kevin "Shivers" Hunt who's an ISU alum and intern in our office - happy. But just seconds later, the Cyclones lost one in the quarterfinals to even things out. Surprisingly, Ohio State is in the lead right now by a point and a half, but Iowa and Iowa State are nipping at the Buckeyes' heels. The Buckeye fans have become huuuuuge fans of anyone wrestling a Hawkeye or Cyclone right now.

I have to point out an incredible story developing here in that of Arizona State 125-pounder Anthony Robles. The kid has one leg - he was born without a right limb - and is dominating the competition here. He beat the No. 5 seed yesterday and then just used three tilts to beat the No. 4 seed and move into the semifinals tonight. Jarrod Garnett, who wrestled him earlier this year, tells me the guy is so strong up top to compensate for having just one leg and compares his grip to a vice grip. He's quickly becoming a crowd favorite and you should check him out tonight on ESPN2 if you can.

Chris Diaz just absolutely dominated No. 5 seed Marcus Hoehn of Missouri with a 16-5 major decision to assure himself of another match. The sophomore took a 6-3 lead into the last period and then picked up a reversal to start the period and two more takedowns for the big win. He'll now take on Jamal Parks of Oklahoma State later this session. Two wins, and two matchups against the Cowboys coming up.

Alex Krom of Maryland just punch his All-America ticket with a win in the quarterfinals. He is unseeded at 141 pounds but is wrestling really well right now for the Terps. Darrion Caldwell of NC State just won to move to the semifinals as well, assuring himself of All-American honors. Konrad Dudziak of Duke also won to earn All-America honors. Overall, the ACC is representing itself pretty well as three are still alive for national titles and a dozen or so ACC wrestlers are still alive in the tournament.

It's fun watching the coaches trying to maneuver around the eight mats here at the Scottrade Center. There's not a lot of room around the edges and when a team has two wrestlers wrestling in close proximity, or even at the same time, they go bouncing around each mat and around the obstacles in a fashion that would make Tigger proud.

Back from a lengthy break with back-to-back updates.

Tommy Spellman saw his season come to an end with a 1-0 loss to Virginia's Rocco Caponi. Spellman basically did nothing for seven minutes and paid the price. After a scoreless first period, Spellman chose neutral and couldn't get anything. Caponi then took the top position for the third period and rode him the entire time for a 1-0 win thanks to riding time.

Right after, on the same mat, heavyweight David Marone overcame quite a weight differential and an early deficit to beat unseeded Benjamin Berhow of Minnesota, 6-4. Berhow got a takedown in the first period, but Marone two takedowns of his own and two escape to hold on for the big win. He will now take on unseeded Richard Goff of Cleveland State later this session.

Moving back to the little guys, Garnett took on former Lock Haven All-American and current Okie State 125-pounder Obe Blanc and Blanc scrambled to an early takedown. Blanc continued to apply the pressure with a takedown and two nearfall points to take a 6-1 lead to the second period. Blanc tacked on a few more takedowns in the final period for the 17-4 major decision.

While Garnett was wrapping up his match with one Cowboy, Diaz was starting with another Jamal Parks. The two were scoreless through one and Parks escaped late in the second after Diaz picked up 88 seconds of riding time. In the third Diaz escaped quickly in the third to preserve the riding time and then got a takedown. Parks got an escape and Diaz was given two stall warnings, but the riding time was the difference as Diaz moves to session four. His reward is sixth-seeded Nate Gallick of Iowa State tonight. The winner earns All-America honors. The loser goes home.

Marone kept his season alive with an impressive 7-4 win over Cleveland State's Rashard Goff. After a scoreless first period, Marone picked up an escape and a takedown for the 3-0 lead. Marone got another takedown halfway through third period and sealed it with a takedown with less than 10 seconds. He'll now wrestle for All-America honors tonight against No. 9 seed John Wise of Illinois.

Off for a nap and some grub. See you tonight!

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Day One Wrapup
Back at the media hotel finishing up things while catching the end of some basketball games. Here are a few tidbits to hold you over until tomorrow.

* The attendance for the second session was 15,851. It was pretty full early, but after the championship bracket was completed, fans started heading out to start their Thursday night festivities a little early.

* Tech will send four guys into Friday's action. Tech sits in a tie for 32nd place with 8.0 points. While the Hokies only have eight points, on the bright side it is the most points they've scored since 2006 and this was only day one. Iowa and Iowa State sit in a tie in first with 33.0 points apiece.

* While some individuals picked up some good wins Thursday, the Hokies only got one bonus point, which is where you really earn some big points. That came in the last match of the day when David Marone picked up a major decision. The failure to get the bonus points is a little strange since the Hokies set school records for falls, tech falls and major decisions this year, but it's a continuation of the ACC Tournament where the same thing happened. Nonetheless, wins are wins at this level.

* Tommy Spellman and Rocco Caponi will be meeting once again, this time with the goal of ending the other's season. Spellman dominated Caponi 8-1 in the dual meet, nearly pinning him. But in the ACC Championship, Caponi turned Spellman in the third period of a 0-0 match and went on to win 4-1 for his third ACC title.

* Friday's action starts an hour earlier, at 10 a.m., local time and every Tech wrestler will wrestle a second match should they win their opening match. To make it to Saturday's All-America action, they'll have to win four matches in a row tomorrow.

Here are a few quotes from head coach Kevin Dresser and heavyweight David Marone.

A Q&A with Dresser

Friendly Blogger: What are your thoughts on getting four guys into day two?

Dresser: Baby steps. We have a lot of young guys. We'll have some young guys not wrestling tomorrow who know what they need to do next year. We still have some guys alive. These guys are down to the top 24 wrestlers in the nation at their weight class. We start all over tomorrow morning.

Friendly Blogger: Tommy Spellman and Rocco Caponi will meet for the third time tomorrow. How do you size up that match?

Dresser: I'm excited about that matchup and I hope Spellman is too after the performance he had at the ACC Tournament. We should be ready to go for that one.

Friendly Blogger: What are your goals for tomorrow for these four guys?

Dresser: Our goal tomorrow is to get to Saturday. They're going to have to win a lot of close matches to do that. I don't know if we've got anybody who's tough enough to get to Saturday, but we'll find out tomorrow.

A Q&A with Marone

Friendly Blogger: How does it feel to get your first NCAA win and to pick up a major decision doing it?

Marone: I was trying to make up for my first match after not wrestling very well. I came out and wrestled hard. I probably could have gotten a takedown or two in the first period, but I didn't produce. In the second period, I got some takedowns and I showed that if you keep going after it, they'll break down eventually. As far as getting an NCAA win, it's exciting but I'm not thinking about it too much because I have some big matches tomorrow.

Friendly Blogger: Coming in to this tournament, what were your goals and what's still left for you to accomplish?

Marone: The goal all year has to be an All-American. Even though I lost that first one, I have to come out and wrestle hard and give it everything I've got. If I do that, good things will happen.

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Session Two This and That
We're back for Session Two and as the fans start filing in, here are a few items for you.

Iowa State leads after one session with 25.0 points. Defending champion Iowa is close behind with 22.0 points. The Cyclones have nine left in the championship bracket and one in the consolation while the Hawkeyes have seven left in the main bracket and two in the wrestlebacks.

Virginia Tech sits in a tie for 36th place with 4.0 points, but that's going to start shaking out here in a bit. Expect to see a lot of separation between the big boys and the rest in this next session. The Hokies have two still in the championship bracket and technically have six in the wrestlebacks, although Pete Yates will officially be eliminated when he defaults this match coming up.

The key for the Hokies now is to win some matches in the consolation bracket. Not all of these guys are going to earn All-America honors, but to win a few matches - with some bonus points - would go a long way in helping Tech creep up the team standings.

There were a surprising number of upsets in the first round, including a No. 1 seed and several two seeds. But the biggest roar came at 141 pounds when Maryland's Alex Krom upset No. 3 seed Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa, sending everyone not wearing black and gold into a tizzy. Nice to see an ACC guy do it, too.

We have a lot of action right off the bat as Anthony Trongone, D.J. Bruce and Jarrod Garnett will be up real quick.

Trongone kept his season alive for at least one more match as he came from behind to beat Hunter Meys of Boston, 8-5. Meys got a takedown early and then the two exchanged reversals before Trongone escaped to end the first period. Meys escaped after Trongone picked up a lot of riding time in the second and then Trongone got a takedown at the buzzer to tie it up heading to the final period. He finished it with a reversal midway through the period and got riding time for the extra point. He'll wrestle again tonight, this time against unseeded Shane Onufer of Wyoming.

Bruce saw his season come to an end with a 10-4 loss to Charles Silber of American. He gave up a pair of takedowns early, but tied it up with a takedown late in the first period after picking up the escape. But he was ridden the entire second period as Silber accumulated a ton of riding time. Silber picked up another takedown and eliminated Bruce with the 10-4 win.

At the same time as Bruce was wrestling, Garnett was taking on defending national champion Angel Escobedo of Indiana. He put up a great fight, but lost 2-1. After a scoreless first period, Escobedo got an escape in the second period and then rode Garnett most of the third period to pick up the riding time point. He drops to the consolations, where he will wrestle Friday morning against Prescott Garner from Navy, a guy he beat 11-3 earlier this year.

Tommy Spellman had the tough task of taking on No. 3 seed Mike Pucillo of Ohio State in the second round. Like his earlier match today, Spellman and his opponent went scoreless in the first stanza. Pucillo started the second period off with an escape and took Spellman down shortly thereafter. Another takedown by Pucillo just about iced it as the Buckeye went on to win 6-0. Spellman drops down to the consolation bracket, where he will wrestle Friday against Rocco Caponi of Virginia. It will be the third match of the year for the duo with each winning one.

Chris Diaz started his consolation match off with a bang, picking up a takedown three seconds in to take the early lead over Elijah Nacita of Cal State Bakersfield. He got another takedown midway through for a 4-2 lead after one period. Diaz managed an escape midway through the second period and extended his lead with another takedown. Nacita picked up an escape and a takedown late in the period to make it interesting. Nacita made it a two-point match with an escape in the third, but Diaz picked up yet another takedown late to ice the 11-6 win. He'll have a tough task Friday when he takes on No. 5 seed Marcus Hoehn of Missouri.

Jesse Dong got in an early hole when Kurt Kinser of Indiana used a headlock to throw Dong to his back for a five-point move in the first period. Dong escaped but faced an uphill battle with Kinser also having two minutes of riding time. Kinser clinched the 10-2 major decision with two takedowns in the last minute of play to end Dong's season.

Anthony Trongone took on Shane Onufer of Wyoming in an elimination match. Onufer put up the first points with a takedown late in the first period. Onufer got a quick reversal to start the second period to make things difficult for the New Jersey native. Trongone got a penalty point to make it 4-2, but Onufer added a takedown early in the third to effectively end it en route to the 7-2 win.

David Marone finished up the day for the Hokies by taking on Clayton Jack of Oregon State and picked up a 10-2 major decision. The two big men did the dance for the first three minutes with neither man scoring. Marone chose the down position to start and quickly got the escape and about a minute later, finally got a takedown for a 3-0 lead. Jack escaped to cut into the lead and then Marone took him down for a second time for a 5-1 lead heading to the final stanza. Jack chose the down position to start the third, but Marone turned him for a two-point nearfall before letting him up with just over a minute left and then took him down one last time for good measure. Marone now lives to fight again tomorrow and will face unseeded Banjamin Berhow of Minnesota.

That's it for this blog. I'll post a nightly wrapup here in a little bit with quotes from coach Kevin Dresser and Marone.

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Annnnnnd We're Off
We're underway here in St. Louis. It's not a packed house, but it's still a pretty good crowd for a Thursday morning session.

Here's a couple of notes for you:

There are 76 schools represented at this event. Iowa State is the only team to qualify all 10 of its wrestlers while Boise State, Cornell, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State and Oklahoma State brought nine. Virginia Tech is in some pretty elite company with eight guys, joining storied programs such as Central Michigan, Edinboro, Hofstra, Missouri and Oklahoma with eight. Of course, only seven Hokies are wrestling as Pete Yates is a scratch, but that's still pretty impressive.

There are 13 current or former Hokies in this tournament. You have the eight current Tech grapplers, plus Eric Decker (who transferred to Old Dominion), Christian Smith (who transferred to Liberty), Jon Bonilla-Bowman (who transferred to Hofstra) and both Brent Metcalf and Steve Borschel (who transferred to Iowa). That's quite a lineup right there to make a run at the team title.

With Jarrod Garnett's win, the Hokies have now won more matches and scored more points than all of last year's tournament.

And now some early match notes featuring the Hokies:

Anthony Trongone dropped a tough decision 2-1 in a pigtail match at 174 pounds. His opponent, Nate Rock, got an escaped in the second period and then rode Trongone for the full two minutes in the third stanza. Rock was tagged with a pair of stall warnings to account for Trongone's lone point. He'll now drop down into the consolations, where he will take on unseeded Hunter Meys of Boston, who is coached by former Hokie Sean Gray.

At 125 pounds, Jarrod Garnett got a takedown in the first period and led 2-1 after one over a tough Nick Bedelyon of Kent State. Bedelyon escaped in the second period to tie it up. Garnett got a stall warning against him in the second period and was ridden for 1:54 of the third period, looking like he was dead in the water. But with six seconds left, he picked up a reversal and held Bedelyon down (Bedelyon had riding time) to win 4-3 in an exciting bout. He'll now face defending national champion and No. 3 seed Angel Escobedo of Indiana in the Thursday night session.

"I knew he was riding me tough because he was riding me to my weak side," Garnett said. "I was positioning myself and hoping he would try to pull me back into the crab position. When he did that, I started swimming backwards and pushing my hips back to try and got the reversal. And then he stood up and had to decide what I was going to do there in the last seconds, but luckily I held on and got the win. He's a tough kid, so that's a good win."

Chris Diaz put up a good fight against the No. 2 seed at 141 pounds, but fell to Zach Tanelli, 8-4. Diaz beat Tanelli 8-3 in Vegas, but didn't have the upset magic in him again. After a scoreless first period, Tanelli escaped to take a lead. Diaz got a takedown with a headlock and almost got Tanelli to his back, but couldn't quite make the turn. Tanelli went on to get three takedowns from that point to pull away. Diaz will have to wrestle unseeded Elijah Nacita, an 8-0 loser to Virginia's Nick Nelson in the first round. That match will happen tonight.

At 157 pounds, Jesse Dong couldn't get anything going offensively and dropped a 5-2 decision in the tiebreaker to 11th-seeded Chase Pami. After a scoreless first period, Pami got a reversal and then Dong escaped. Trailing 2-1 heading to the third, Dong got an escape to send it to extra time. After a scoreless sudden victory, Pami basically put the match away in the first session of the tiebreaker. He got a quick escape and then went right to Dong's leg for the takedown in the first-30 second period. Dong couldn't get anything going from there and eventually lost 5-2. Dong beat Pami 2-0 earlier this year, but just like Diaz, he couldn't get the win in the rematch. He will take on unseeded Kurt Kinser of Indian in an elimination bout tonight.

After a little break, the Hokies took back to the mat when Tommy Spellman took on unseeded Christopher McNeill of Oklahoma State. There's not a lot to say on this one as both guys got an escape to start their stanza and then Spellman got the takedown 13 seconds into sudden victory for the win. He'll now get the No. 3 seed Mike Pucillo of Ohio State tonight.

"I almost had a shot in regulation, so I knew if I forced the action I'd be able to get the takedown," Spellman said. "I had to stay away from his open shots and I was able to convert it to the takedown for the win."

On facing Pucillo: "I've never wrestled him, but I saw him on ESPN last year. It'll be fun. I don't have anything to lose so I'm not going to hold anything back."

D.J. Bruce was overmatched against second-seeded Jake Varner of Iowa State at 197 pounds. Varner got a quick takedown and never looked back. Bruce nearly got pinned at the end of the second period, but fought it off. In the end, Varner picked up the easy 17-2 technical fall. Bruce will now take on Charles Silber from American in an elimination bout tonight.

In the final bout of the first round for Tech heavyweight David Marone met up with DJ Russo of Rutgers in another rematch from earlier this year. And just like Diaz and Dong, the winner from the first match lost the second match. Russo got a takedown at the end of the first period off a mad scramble. Russo opened the second period with a reversal to go up 4-0 and eventually pinned Marone at the 4:48 mark. Marone will fight for his life in the consolations tonight against unseeded Clayton Jack of Oregon State.

And finally, the first-session attendance was 15,226.

That'll be it for this round. The next session begins at 6:30 p.m., local time. Off to watch some basketball and grab some grub.

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Some Late Breaking News
Some late-breaking news from the Hokie camp. Pete Yates has been pulled from the tournament after re-injuring the knee he hurt in the ACC Tournament yesterday during a workout. Trainer Sean Collins said he had rehabbed well and was ready to go before landing on it awkwardly yesterday. He's been scratched and now the Hokies will have to go with seven guys. The other seven made weight and are in a foul mood, which I'm told is a good thing.

And now on to your regularly scheduled blog ... For anyone who's a fan of college wrestling, today is like Christmas or a birthday to you. In a little less than an hour, one of the most underrated college experiences will take place here in St. Louis, Mo. That would be the 2009 NCAA Wrestling Championships. If you want a jam-packed and loud arena, with some great excitement on eight mats, the NCAA meet is for you. There's nothing quite like experiencing 19,000 fans rooting for some unknown kid from a small school who's taking on a top dog from one of the favorites, or rooting against the kid from the big school! And if the upset happens ... prepare for the roof to be blown off.

I'm told this arena is one of the loudest in the NHL, so we'll see. "The House That Brett Hull Built" will be rocking for sure.

The music is pumping and the crowd is streaming in at a pretty good pace for today's event. The schools buy blocks of tickets, so all the gold for Iowa is in one area and the red of the Iowa State Cyclones is in another, etc., and I hear the Hokies will have a section of 125-150 people, so that should be pretty cool as well.

Speaking of Iowa, I ran into former Hokie head coach and current Iowa top man Tom Brands yesterday at a reception. That's about the extent of the story.

Anyways, we should be starting soon.

There will be 10 pigtails up first and that will include Tech's Anthony Trongone at 174 pounds. Then they'll start the first round with the little guys and move through the next nine weight classes on eight mats until we're done.

The energy in here in unbelievable and I'm ready to roll here. An update on former Hokies ... I've seen Steve Borja, Donny Ooton and Sean Gray.

My plan is to post some short recaps and updates as we go along and then to post the full and formal story after each session on hokiesports.com.

I know most of the country is focused on the roundball starting at noon and their brackets, but I'll try to give you something to come back for during the media timeouts. So for those who have a birthday today, Happy Birthday. And for the rest of you, celebrate today's college athletics slate like it is your birthday!

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The Calm Before the Storm
Salutations from St. Louis, the Gateway to the West. Home of the Arch, the Anheuser Busch Brewery, the Cardinals and the 1904 Olympics. I'll be your friendly blogger over the next few days as eight Hokies compete in the 2009 NCAA Wrestling Championships. We hope to bring you frequent updates, some behind-the-scenes stuff, interviews with coaches and players, and more.

I've made the March to the Arch (not a literal march as a 650-mile hike would be a little too much for me) and will be here from the start tomorrow when the madness begins.

The teams arrived yesterday and have spent the day rotating in and out of the Scottrade Center practicing in the enormous building - home to the NHL's Blues - on the eight mats. By the looks on several people's faces here, including media, coaches and other personnel, St. Louis must be a fun place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day because everyone still looks tired.

It's pretty quiet in here now, but in less than 24 hours, this place will be rocking. At the airport, one of the first people I saw was former Tech great David Hoffman, who is an assistant coach at Bucknell under former Tech assistant Dan Wirnsberger. He is Tech's all-time winningest wrestler and earned All-America honors in 2005, so hopefully that's a good sign.

I had a chance to catch up with the head man of the Hokies, Kevin Dresser, to get some thoughts on the action which begins tomorrow morning at 11 a.m., local time.

Friendly Blogger: What are your thoughts on being back in St. Louis this year, but this time with eight guys as opposed to one?:

Dresser: It's going to be much different for us this year from a coaching perspective. Last year, we qualified one guy and he went 0-2, so 95 percent of our time here was spent as fans. It's going to be exciting to have more guys in the mix this year. Hopefully we can get into Friday night and into Saturday and we can continue to be coaches this weekend.

Friendly Blogger: What's the mood of the team a week and a half after the disappointment of the ACC Tournament?

Dresser: I think they're glad to have another opportunity to wrestle. We had some good individual performances at the ACC meet, but as a team we were disappointed. The mood is great. We had a great week of practice and got after it. So I think they're just ready to wrestle.

Friendly Blogger: You have some tough first-round matches with four guys wrestling seeded guys in the first round. Your thoughts?

Dresser: Well, when you aren't seeded the odds of getting a seeded wrestler in the first round are high. We should be favored at 125 pounds if Jarrod comes to wrestle and scrap. At 141 pounds, we have the No. 2 seed, but Diaz dominated him earlier this year so we're the underdog, but beat him in December. At 149, we aren't fully healthy. We're better, but not 100 percent so you don't know what can happen. At 157 pounds, we have a rematch where Dong beat this guy 2-0 earlier this year and I expect another tight bout. At 174, we have a pigtail match and a pretty good draw and I don't know much about Spellman's guy at 184 pounds. At 197, we have to go out and make something happen early against the number 2 seed. We have to go out and try to pin this guy right away because the longer it goes, the more it favors them. And at heavyweight, we have a rematch of a dual match where Marone beat his kid 10-6, but it was closer than that.

Friendly Blogger: You have a school-record eight guys here, but none have been here before. Are you expecting wide eyes and butterflies tomorrow morning?

Dresser: I'm sure we'll have some butterflies, but I have a good feeling that after coming off such a bad performance, these guys are going to come out and compete. I don't think we competed at the ACCs, so we have to get out there and go.

Friendly Blogger: I hear there's a funny story about Anthony Trongone and his selection to the tournament.

Dresser: Yeah, when the call came last Wednesday that Trongone got a bid we had to scramble a little. We really didn't think he'd get an at-large bid based on our calculations, so he went home because it was Spring Break at Tech. But Coach Yetzer called him up and told him and I don't think he believed him at first. But we got him on a flight from New Jersey, and it was delayed and then cancelled. But we finally got him back in here to start working out with the team. New Jersey to Virginia Tech on short notice isn't an easy trip, that's for sure!

That's about all you're gonna get out of me today. Early flight and some meetings have sapped me. Good luck to the baseball and basketball teams tonight. I'm gonna go find a place that carries "The U" so I can watch and enjoy the game.

Be sure to check back tomorrow. Anthony Trongone will be the first Hokie to take the mat and it will be almost instantaneously.

Until tomorrow ...

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